fornia 
nal 

Sy 


This  edition,  printed  from  type  at  the  De  Vinne 
Press,  is  limited  to  twelve  hundred  and 
eighty  copies,  of  which  two  hundred  and 
sixty  are  for  sale  in  England. 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 


Thackeray's 
Haunts  and  Homes 

By 

Eyre  Crowe,  A.  R.  A. 

With  Illustrations  from 
Sketches  by  the  Author 


New  York 

Charles  Scribner's  Sons 
1897 


Thackeray's 
Haunts  and  Homes 

By 
Eyre  Crowe,  A.  R.  A. 

With  Illustrations  from 
Sketches  by  the  Author 


New  York 
Charles  Scribner's  Sons 

1897 


Copyright,  1897, 
By  Charles  Scribner's  Sons 


Illustrations 


Thackeray  and  Peg  of  Limavaddy     ....   Frontispiece 

PAGE 

Entrance  Hall  of  House  at  No.  13  Great  Coram 

Street     x 

Taprell's  Chambers,  No.  i  Hare  Court,  Temple  .         3 

Interior  of  Taprell's  Chambers,  No.  i  Hare  Court, 

Temple 7 

Private  Atelier  of  Baron  Gros,  Paris,  1834   ...        13 

Rue  Neuve  St.  Augustin,  Paris,  A.  D.  1836   ...        17 
vii 


2029781 


viii  Illustrations 

PAGE 

Thackeray's  House  at  No.  18  Albion  Street,  Hyde 

Park 21 

Thackeray's    Residence    at    No.   13  Great  Coram 

Street,  Brunswick  Square,  from  1837  to  1840  .        25 

A  Typical  Margate  Lodging  and  Boarding  House       29 

Chateau    de    Brequerecque    at    Boulogne-sur-Mer, 

in  1854 35 

Hotel  des  Bains,  Boulogne-sur-Mer.       Entrance  in 

rue  Victor  Hugo 39 

Eccles's  Hotel,  Glengariff 43 

Thackeray's  Home  at  No.  13  Young  Street,  Ken- 
sington, from  1846  to  1853 47 

Facsimile  of  Letter 59 

House  at  No.  36  Onslow  Square,  Brompton      .     .       63 

Waterloo  Tavern,  as  described  by  Thackeray  in  the 

"Cornhill  Magazine"  of  July,  1861  ....        68 


Illustrations  ix 

PAGE 

Waterloo  Tavern  as  it  is  To-day 69 

Thackeray's  Last   House  at  No.  2  Palace  Green, 

Kensington 73 

Stranger's  Room,  Reform  Club,  London,  showing 
portrait  of  Thackeray  by  Samuel  Laurence,  and 
busts  of  Sir  William  Molesworth  and  Charles 
Buller 79 


Entrance  Hall  of  House  at  No.  1 3  Great 
Coram  Street. 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

THACKERAY  struck  the  true  keynote, 
as  regards  the  surroundings  of  the  illus- 
trious among  us,  when  he  said,  in  one  of  his 
"Roundabout  Papers"  of  the  year  1860: 
"  We  all  want  to  know  details  regarding  men 
who  have  achieved  famous  feats,  whether  of 
war,  or  wit,  or  eloquence,  or  knowledge." 
Wit,  eloquence,  and  knowledge  may  fairly 
be  said  to  be  comprised  in  the  compass  of 
his  literary  powers.  While,  therefore,  it  is 
still  possible  to  do  so,  I  have  undertaken  to 
garner  a  sheaf  of  sketches  giving  the  out- 
ward look  of  his  habitations,  before  the  in  - 
evitable  house-wrecker  sweeps  away  these  lit- 
erary vestiges.  As  he  has  pointed  out,  a  few 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

rough  strokes  of  the  pencil  will  be  more 
helpful  in  this  respect  than  the  most  elabor- 
ate descriptive  sentences  can  be.  While 
following  in  approximate  chronological  se- 
quence the  connecting-links,  omitting  the 
Charterhouse  School,  which  has  been  ably 
illustrated  before,  I  give,  without  further 
comment,  the  sketches,  worked  out  in  situ. 

Thackeray's  first  tentative  effort  at  the 
mastery  of  a  liberal  profession  was  that  of 
becoming  a  pupil  of  a  special  pleader,  then 
the  recognized  method  of  mastering  the  in- 
tricacies of  legal  practice,  since  gone  out  of 
date.  He  chose  a  successful  master  of  the 
craft,  Taprell,  and  enrolled  himself  as  pupil. 
His  chambers  were  on  the  ground  floor  of 
No.  i  Hare  Court. 

Through  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  Shackle- 
ton  Hallett  and  Mr.  William  T.  Raymond, 
the  present  tenants  of  Taprell's  chambers  at 


Taprell's  Chambers,  No.  i  Hare  Court,  Temple,  where  Thackeray 
studied  law  in  1832. 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

No.  i  Hare  Court,  I  was  allowed  to  make  the 
sketch  here  given.  It  enables  one  to  realize 
the  scene  of  the  grateful  pupil's  endeavors 
to  master  the  intricacies  of  law,  as  he  sat  in 
that  same  room  upward  of  sixty  years  ago; 
staying  till  nigh  six  o'clock  in  the  afternoons 
with  his  master.  The  panel-oak  wainscot, 
into  which  numerous  book-shelves  are  in- 
serted, holding  convenient  folios  for  refer- 
ence in  search  of  precedents,  is  still  here, 
helping  the  thick  brick  walls,  which  with- 
stood the  Great  Fire  of  London,  further  to 
deaden  all  sounds  but  that  of  the  postman's 
knock  on  the  oaken  door.  It  is  whispered 
that  in  former  days,  "after  office  hours  in 
the  evening,"  much  merriment,  including 
dancing,  took  place  in  this  capacious  apart- 
ment. The  guitar,  which  may  be  noticed 
ensconced  in  a  top-shelf  recess,  reminds  one 
of  the  old  Queen  Anne  days,  as  recorded  in 
Dick  Steele's  "Spectator,"  when  the  music- 
5 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

ally  inclined  barrister  used  to  wake  the 
Temple  echoes  with  the  sonorous  hautboy, 
ending  by  piteous  appeals  to  the  Benchers  to 
stop  the  noise.  Briefs,  bound  with  official  red 
tape,  strew  the  tables,  at  which  you  notice 
the  most  comfortable  arm-chairs,  inviting 
careful  perusal.  This  is  in  accordance  with 
modern  ideas  of  comfort  and  with  the  dig- 
nity of  the  legal  aspirant;  but  in  Thackeray's 
letters  he  seems  to  dwell  with  semi-splenetic 
humor  on  the  fact  that  backs  to  seats  were 
not  encouraged  in  his  days.  In  a  letter  to 
his  mother  he  sketched  himself  as  sitting  on 
a  high  stool;  he  adds,  "the  high  stools  do 
not  blossom  and  bring  forth  buds  "  —  in  Tap- 
rell's  chambers.  He  had  his  own  residential 
chambers,  I  believe,  in  Hare  Court,  but  he 
probably  shared  them  with  another,  as  did 
Pendennis  with  Warrington;  so  his  name 
doesn't  appear  in  the  Taprell  list  of  residents 
in  1831-32.  The  glimpse  through  the  win- 
6 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

dows  shows  the  chambers  of  Pump  Court, 
which  in  summer-time  are  screened  from 
sight  by  the  green  leafage. 

He  soon  left  Hare  Court  altogether,  and 
bid  good-by  to  wig  and  gown  for  student 
days  in  Paris.  His  biographers  say  he  lived 
in  the  Latin  Quarter. 

The  actual  atelier  in  which  Thackeray 
worked  in  Paris  is  at  present  only  to  be 
guessed  at.  In  his  admirable  paper  on  the 
"  French  School  of  Painting,"  first  published 
in  "Fraser,"  and  afterward  incorporated  in 
his  "French  Sketch  Book,"  he  says:  "There 
are  a  dozen  excellent  schools  in  which  a  lad 
may  enter  here,  and  under  the  eye  of  a  prac- 
tised master  learn  the  apprenticeship  of  his 
art  at  an  expense  of  about  ten  pounds  a  year." 
The  tradition  is  that  he  joined  the  ranks  of 
Gros'  atelier,  the  nursery  of  many  famous 
painters.  When  David  was  banished  from 
France,  as  his  favorite  pupil  Gros  continued 
9 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

his  work  and  maintained  his  master's  tradi- 
tions. He  came  every  morning  at  nine 
o'clock,  and  remained  for  two  hours  giving 
loud  viva  voce  hints,  so  that  what  was  a  les- 
son to  one  became  the  property  of  the 
remainder,  thus  multiplying  daily,  for  the 
benefit  of  all,  his  individually  applied  re- 
marks. 

One  rule,  however,  was  insisted  upon  at 
the  outset.  This  was  to  copy  in  chalk  a 
study  from  the  antique,  the  work  of  Gros 
himself  as  a  student  in  Rome, —  the  copy  to 
be  worked  out  in  one  sitting.  This  was  the 
representation  of  "  Ajax  lifting  the  Body  of 
Patroclus." 

One  can  fancy  the  grim  sense  of  irony 
suffusing  the  features  of  the  great  Titmarsh, 
who,  in  many  passages,  has  derided  this 
academical  practice  as  time  wasted,  when  in- 
vited to  fulfil  this  uncongenial  task.  Be  this 
as  it  may,  he  wrote  to  his  kind  mother:  "I 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

go  to  the  atelier  steadily  every  day,"  and  a 
cheery  note  to  say  he  felt  he  was  improving 
in  his  practice. 

He  describes,  in  the  above-mentioned  es- 
say, "  the  score  of  companions  he  met  with, 
all  merry  and  poor,  working  in  a  cloud  of 
smoke,  amid  a  din  of  puns  and  a  choice 
French  slang  and  a  roar  of  choruses,  of  which 
no  one  can  form  an  idea  who  has  not  been 
present  at  such  an  assembly." 

How  vivid  this  is!  —  and  it  is  true  to  this 
day.  The  modest  pay  remains  at  the  same 
low  figure;  but  the  master  visits  the  school 
at  rarer  intervals;  the  modern  notion  being 
that  the  pupil  is  best  left  more  to  his  own  re- 
sources, aided,  it  may  be,  by  kindly  advice 
from  his  co-workers  when  nonplussed  in  his 
endeavors.  Gros'  atelier,  it  may  be  added, 
was  situated,  at  that  date,  in  the  inner  court 
of  the  Institute,  the  entrance  to  it  being  next 
to  that  of  the  Mazarin  Library,  familiar  to 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

most  art-lovers  as  containing  the  famous 
small  sketch-books  of  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  as 
well  as  the  almost  anatomical  sculptural  fig- 
ure of  Voltaire  by  Pigalle,  which  so  scan- 
dalized Voltaire's  admirers  as  a  questionable 
tribute  of  affection  to  their  yet  living  phil- 
osopher and  friend. 

The  class  hours  were  from  eight  o'clock  in 
the  morning  till  one  in  the  afternoon.  After 
a  brief  interval  for  lunch,  throwing  off  the 
atelier  blouse,  the  students,  then  as  now, 
crossed  the  Bridge  of  Arts,  and  wound  up  the 
day  with  practice  in  copying  the  old  mas- 
ters in  the  Louvre  Gallery.  Here  it  was,  in 
the  waning  hours  of  the  summer  noon,  that  I 
recollect  seeing  Thackeray  making  very  deft 
and  pretty  water-sketches,  alike  from  the 
Dutch  and  French  masters. 

In  the  "Edinburgh  Review"  for  January, 
1848,  appeared  a  review  of  "Vanity  Fair." 
The  article  was  written  by  Mr.  Hayward,  and 


Private  Atelier  of  Baron  Gros,  Paris,  1834. 
Drawn  from  a  print. 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

states  that  "he  remembered  ten  or  twelve 
years  ago  finding  Thackeray  day  after  day 
engaged  in  copying  pictures  in  the  Louvre, 
in  order  to  qualify  himself  for  his  profession." 
The  time  mentioned  should  have  been  put 
earlier  by  two  or  three  years,  as  he  was  writ- 
ing for  the  "Constitutional"  up  to  July, 
1837,  having  married,  and  given  up  the 
brush  practice,  with  a  view  to  a  profession,  a 
year  before  that  time. 

Thackeray's  common-sense  was  manifested 
here  by  the  fact  that  his  copies  were  not  the 
usual  lengthy  ponderings  over  one  canvas, 
with  the  comparatively  tedious  superposi- 
tion of  coats  of  oil  paint  one  on  top  of  the 
other,  but  rapid  seizure  in  water-colors,  and 
in  small  compass,  of  the  salient  features  of 
the  old  masters  before  the  eye  became  dulled 
by  labored  effort.  He  shifted  his  easel  often, 
and  really  took  in  a  great  store  of  art  know- 
ledge of  effects,  of  schemes,  of  composition, 
15 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

and  an  insight  into  technique,  giving  him 
wonderful  advantage  when  he  enlisted  his 
keen  perceptive  powers  in  art  criticism. 
The  peaked  wide-awake  hat,  the  long,  di- 
sheveled hair,  and  the  attire  of  painters  at 
this  time  gave  him  capital  bits  of  character 
to  study  from,  and  were  pictorial  digressions 
he  largely  indulged  in. 

It  was  in  August,  1836,  that  Thackeray 
was  married  to  Miss  Shawe,  at  the  British 
Embassy,  by  Bishop  Luscombe,  who  was 
chaplain  there.  He  took  apartments  for 
himself  and  his  wife  in  the  Rue  Neuve  St. 
Augustin  there.  He  was  then  correspon- 
dent of  the  "Constitutional,"  and  a  reference 
to  its  columns  at  this  date  shows  Titmarsh  as 
a  most  violent  anti-Louis-Philippist.  I  give 
a  sketch  of  the  exterior  of  the  street,  though 
unable  to  point  with  exactness  to  which 
of  the  two  structures  was  the  real  abode, 
whether  the  one  on  the  extreme  left,  to 
16 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

which  I  incline,  or  that  next  to  it.  My 
apology  must  be  the  great  length  of  time 
since  then — half  a  century  ago.  Still  vivid, 
however,  is  the  impression  of  the  charming 
grace  and  modesty  of  the  hostess,  who  was 
lithe  in  figure,  with  hair  of  the  tinge  Titian 
was  so  fond  of  depicting,  bordering  on  red- 
ness. This  pleasant  time  of  newly  married 
folks,  which  is  so  touchingly  found  hinted  at 
with  delicate  hand  in  the  "  Bouillabaisse " 
ballad,  has  not  been  chronicled  in  the  short 
lives  of  the  author  hitherto  published.  The 
day's  work  over,  they  would  stroll  off  by  the 
arched  entrance,  and  through  that  lively 
thronged  Passage  Choiseul,  at  the  far  end  of 
which  they  would  emerge  on  the  street  of 
the  Little  Fields.  At  No.  16  was  the  now 
immortalized  restaurateur.  I  find  in  the  old 
Paris  guide-book  of  that  date :  "  Terre 
Jeune,  Restaurateur;  house  noted  for  Span- 
ish dishes,  and  for  good  wines,  and  more 
19 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

especially  for  the  Marseilles  dish,  'Bouil- 
labaisse.' "  Those  curious  as  to  its  exact 
ingredients  will  find  them  enumerated  in 
Larousse's  dictionary  —  some  of  them  so 
scarce  as  to  require  a  journey  to  Marseilles 
itself. 

Some  months  passed,  when  I  recollect  fre- 
quently having  the  privilege  of  meeting  the 
gentle  and  modest  wife  of  Thackeray.  She 
could  sketch,  too,  but  the  brimming  humor 
of  Thackeray's  pencil  caused  us,  in  boyish 
selfishness,  to  look  preferably  over  his  shoul- 
ders whenever  he  took  a  fancy  to  evolve 
pictorial  drolleries  on  paper.  The  "  Constitu- 
tional "  having  ceased  to  exist  as  a  newspaper, 
and  Paris  correspondence  lapsing  in  conse- 
quence, Thackeray  and  his  wife  left  for 
England.  They  settled  again  at  No.  18  Al- 
bion Street,  Hyde  Park,  for  a  brief  while. 
Here,  it  may  be  mentioned,  was  born  Mrs. 
Richmond  Ritchie,  their  eldest  daughter. 


Thackeray's  House  at  No.  18  Albion  Street,  Hyde  Park. 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

The  unpretending  house  has  therefore  a 
double  interest  as  their  home,  first,  and  sec- 
ondly, as  the  nursery  of  two  generations  of 
romance  writers. 

Forsaking  Tyburnia  and  leasing  a  new  resi- 
dence at  No.  13  Great  Coram  Street,  Bruns- 
wick Square,  Thackeray  found  himself  an- 
chored in  London  for  about  four  years.  My 
visit  there  in  the  early  part  of  1839  was  one 
of  the  delights  of  this  boyish  time.  He  had 
ample  store  of  portfolios  full  of  sketches 
made  in  Paris,  and  would,  to  my  great 
amusement,  lend  me  whichever  I  chose  to 
carry  off  and  copy.  I  had  come  to  stay  with 
Andrew  Doyle,  of  the  "  Morning  Chronicle," 
afterward  its  editor,  who  kindly  asked  me 
over  to  see  London  life.  With  Doyle  I 
used  to  spend  some  pleasant  moments  at  the 
prandial  hour  here ;  Mrs.  Thackeray,  having 
our  welfare  at  heart,  was  quite  delightful  at 
her  own  fireside.  Thackeray  talked  of  possi- 
23 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

ble  contributions  of  his  own  to  the  "  Chron- 
icle," at  that  time  a  power  in  the  land,  under 
Black's  editorship.  But  the  sentences  which 
caught  my  juvenile  ear  were  Thackeray's 
noble  acknowledgment  of  the  great  powers 
of  "  Boz,"  whose  nom  de  plume  covered  the 
walls  of  London  at  that  time.  Without  acer- 
bity, but  as  plain  matter-of-fact,  Thackeray 
added  plaintively,  "  he  sells  thousands  of  cop- 
ies to  my  small  hundreds."  If  the  remem- 
brance of  the  house  is  connected  with  the 
sprightly,  cheerful  time  I  now  speak  of,  the 
present  aspect  of  it  causes  a  melancholy  re- 
vulsion of  feeling.  In  former  days  John,  the 
red-breeched  butler,  used  to  usher  you  to 
warm  welcome  and  good  cheer;  he  was  the 
old  retainer  of  whom  so  much  has  been  said, 
who  found  a  niche  in  a  vignette  of  Penden- 
nis,  where  he  is  seen  hugging  a  basket  of 
Madeira  with  a  grin  suggestive  of  mirth  to 
come.  He  opened  the  parlor  door,  which 
24 


Thackeray's  Residence  at  No.  1 3  Great  Coram  Street,  Brunswick 
Square,  from  1837  to  1840. 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

has  a  gentle  elliptical  turn  just  to  avoid  the 
angle  of  the  room.  (See  vignette  facing 
page  i.)  There  it  is  to  this  day.  The  house 
now  is  parceled  out  into  lodgings,  the  door 
has  a  weather-worn  aspect,  the  area  is  full  of 
waifs  blown  in  by  the  gusts  and  not  removed, 
even  the  railing  requires  adventitious  suste- 
nance of  wire  ties.  As  I  sit  on  the  stairs 
sketching  the  hall  I  ask  the  friendly  inter- 
locutor looking  over  me  the  cause  of  the 
general  aspect  of  decrepitude  of  this  tene- 
ment and  that  of  its  companions.  He  an- 
swers that  a  murder  next  door,  about  twenty 
years  ago,  has  acted  as  a  spell  on  the  place, 
which  has  not  survived  the  ban.  This  brings 
back  to  one  the  wonderful  description  Thack- 
eray has  given  in  "  Fraser  "  of  the  night  spent 
in  this  very  house  in  July,  1840,  as  he  tossed  on 
his  pillow,  thinking  all  night  of  the  wretch 
Courvoisier,  the  Swiss  valet,  whose  exit  is 
described  in  "  Going  to  See  a  Man  Hanged." 
27 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

Of  course  the  lodging-houses  of  Margate, 
whither  Thackeray  went  in  the  later  summer 
months  of  1 840  in  search  of  fresh  air,  are  de- 
lightful when  peopled  with  the  vivacious 
characters  which  have  been  assembled  in  the 
wonderful  "  Shabby  Genteel  Story,"  written 
there  at  this  time.  Hence,  therefore,  the 
characteristic  appearance  of  one  out  of  num- 
berless specimens  of  the  same  type  and  con- 
struction may  suffice.  But  how  vapid  they 
look !  In  the  absence  of  Fitch,  the  h-drop- 
ping  painter  we  get  so  fond  of  in  spite  of 
this  blank  in  his  vocabulary,  or  the  widow 
Carrickfergus,  Thackeray's  lodgings  are  un- 
traceable  ;  they  may  be  demolished  —  as  is 
also  the  little  arbor,  three  miles  out,  where 
he  ensconced  himself  to  write  his  review  of 
Fielding's  works,  which  appeared  in  "  The 
Times." 

For  reasons  which  need  not  here  be  told, 
as  they  are  well  known,  the  family  home 
28 


A  Typical  Margate  Lodging  and  Boarding  House. 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

was  now  broken  up,  and  Thackeray  spent 
the  coming  winter  months  of  1840  in  Paris. 
He  used  to  stroll  into  the  Louvre,  where  I 
often  saw  him  in  this  year,  although  he  had 
dropped  the  pencil  and  brush  for  mere  copy- 
ing purposes.  At  the  close  of  it  came  the 
exciting  time  causing  much  preliminary  spec- 
ulation, when  the  remains  of  Napoleon  I 
were  brought  back  to  Paris.  Of  course  every 
one  has  read  the  stirring  account  Thackeray 
gave  of  this  "Second  Funeral  of  Napoleon." 
The  small  sale  of  that  effusion,  which  was 
coupled  with  the  "  Chronicle  of  the  Drum," 
was  always  to  me  a  matter  of  surprise;  as 
great  as  my  wonderment,  on  seeing  an  orig- 
inal copy  of  its  first  edition,  to  discover  it 
only  measured  4  by  6^  inches.  On  this  fa- 
mous igth  of  December  I  did  not  accompany 
him  to  the  interior  of  the  Invalides  church, 
but  I  stood  on  one  of  the  numerous  sloping 
platforms,  to  which  you  were  admitted  by 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

privileged  tickets.  They  commanded  a  full 
view  of  the  line  of  procession  from  the  Quai 
to  the  church  itself.  Two  salient  facts  domi- 
nate his  graphic  description  of  the  pageant 
—  first,  the  intensity  of  the  cold  inside  the 
noble  fane ;  and  the  mastery  of  hunger  over 
the  usual  proprieties  in  a  church.  The  cold 
I  can  vouch  for,  as  I  felt  it  when  pinned 
motionless  for  such  a  length  of  time  in  the 
open  air.  My  companion  had  the  laudable 
foresight  to  carry  a  mysterious  handbag  with 
him  from  the  Hotel  Mirabeau  (the  "Mira- 
bew"  of  James  Delapluche),  which  was  a 
source  of  speculation  as  to  its  contents  all 
that  morning.  But  at  the  appointed  time 
he  told  me  to  squat  down  on  the  floor,  upon 
which  he  spread  and  carved  a  chicken ;  that, 
and  a  gulp  of  sherry  from  a  flask,  made  us 
objects  which  no  doubt  would  have  been 
coupled  with  the  groups  of  hungry  soldiery, 
emptying  their  pouches  of  provender,  as 
32 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

chronicled  in  Thackeray's  letters  to  Miss 
Smith  on  the  same  occasion. 

Thus  fortified,  in  spite  of  deprecatory 
glances  from  less  fortunate  wights  near  us, 
we  presently  saw  a  general  stir  in  the  crowd, 
and  heard  cries  of  "Vive  la  vieille  garde"; 
Polish  lancers,  Roustam,  Napoleon's  Mame- 
luke orderly,  who  had  survived  for  the  occa- 
sion, naval  and  military  dignitaries,  kept  fil- 
ing between  the  rows  of  National  Guards, 
till  at  last  the  beflagged  monument  of  gold 
and  velvet,  the  catafalque,  topped  by  the 
Napoleonic  sarcophagus,  came  in  sight,  and 
as  soon  had  passed  out  of  view,  as  it  was 
brought  into  the  church,  there  to  join  the 
remains  of  the  other  great  French  warrior, 
Marshal  Turenne. 

At  four  the  whole  pageant  was  over,  and 
the  dispersing  crowds  gave  way  to  mingled 
admiration  and  jeering  comments  at  the  life- 
sized  plaster-casts  of  imperial  heroes  lining 
33 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

the  road  of  march,  some  sculptors  having 
nearly  come  up  to  the  occasion,  others  the 
reverse.  Of  the  whole  series,  as  far  as  mem- 
ory serves,  only  one  figure,  the  dominant 
one  of  that  day,  the  bronze  effigy  of  Napo- 
leon I,  by  Baron  Bosio,  has  been  preserved 
to  us.  It  stood  at  the  end  of  the  Invalides 
esplanade,  and  a  short  time  afterward  was 
hoisted  up  to  the  top  of  the  column  on  the 
Boulogne  cliffs. 

The  veteran  whose  achievements  dwell 
uppermost  in  the  memory  of  English  so- 
journers  at  Boulogne  is  Colonel  Newcome. 
Thackeray,  while  evolving  this  noble  figure 
in  his  mind,  dwelt  in  an  old  chateau  called 
Brequerecque,  which  lies  on  the  outskirts  of 
the  town,  pleasantly  nestled  in  trees  and 
shrubberies,  and  surrounded  by  a  wall  high 
enough  to  screen  it  from  the  gaze  of  the  pro- 
fane public  without.  The  resources  of  the 
furnishing  part  of  it  seem  to  have  been 
34 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

somewhat  scanty,  as  Thackeray  complained, 
when  paying  a  visit  to  Dickens,  living  the 
same  year  at  the  Villa  du  Camp  de  Droite 
—  close  to  Napoleon's  Column  —  that  the 
landlord,  a  baron,  had  only  allowed  one  milk- 
jug  as  sufficient  crockery  for  the  whole  estab- 
lishment. 

Like  Pendennis,  Thackeray  used  to  make 
the  Hotel  des  Bains  his  headquarters.  He 
liked  to  peer  out  from  any  one  of  its  fifty 
windows  looking  toward  the  bustling  Quai, 
watching  the  groups  of  fishing-folk,  wist- 
fully looking  at  the  smoking  steamer's  fun- 
nels, and,  packing  up  his  traps,  would  go  off 
to  his  equally  liked  quarters  at  the  Folke- 
stone Pavilion.  The  latter  had  the  great 
advantage  of  being  so  near  his  home;  he 
could  go  and  return,  interview  his  publisher, 
revise  his  proofs,  and  then  seek  the  restful 
nook  over  placid  seas  once  more. 

In  1842  Thackeray  went  to  Ireland.  His 
37 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

book  is  still  an  admirable  guide  to  the  Em- 
erald Isle,  affording  at  once  a  helping  de- 
scriptive comment  by  a  shrewd  observer  on 
places  seen,  and  a  means  of  testing  the  great 
improvements  which  have  taken  place  dur- 
ing the  lapse  of  half  a  century. 

We  take  the  train  to  Belfast,  and  without 
stopping  go  on  to  Newtown-Limavaddy,  and 
the  first  anxious  search  is  to  find  the  home 
of  "  Peg,"  the  humble  bait-house  immortal- 
ized by  Thackeray.  Here  is  the  cheery  in- 
terior, with  the  simmering  pot  of  murphies 
and  the  indwellers,  as  the  wonderful  verses 
described  —  drawn  by  him  who  pens  these 
lines,  who  must  record  his  delight  at  the 
discovery  of  this  country  tap-room  quite  un- 
changed (see  Frontispiece). 

Thackeray,  in  the  "Sketch-Book."  revels 
in  the  beauties  of  Glengariff.  Here  is  the 
etching  of  the  cheery  Eccles's  Hotel.  The 


Hotel  des  Bains,  Boulogne-sur-Mer.      Entrance  in  Rue  Victor  Hugo. 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

views  from  the  windows  are  a  delight,  as  you 
look  out  on  the  island-dotted  bay. 

Thackeray's  footsteps  bring  us  to  his  next 
book  of  travels,  in  the  East.  Whilst  writing 
its  finishing  chapters,  on  his  way  homeward, 
at  Rome,  Thackeray  wrote  his  ballad  "  The 
Three  Sailors  of  Bristol  City,"  to  be  found 
in  Mr.  Samuel  Bevan's  discursive  "  Sand  and 
Canvas."  That  author  sent  Thackeray  a 
rough  copy  of  these  verses,  asking  permis- 
sion to  publish  them  in  his  book.  With  his 
astonishing  bonhomie  and  anxiety  to  humor 
a  friend's  wish,  Titmarsh  consented,  repairing 
the  vocabulary  where  faulty,  and  making  a 
present  of  what  is  the  gem  of  that  work. 
This  was  not  done  without  a  feeling  of  com- 
punction, as  may  be  gathered  from  an  excla- 
mation of  his,  blurted  out  to  me  to  this 
effect :  "  He  might  just  as  well  have  let  me 
publish  the  verses  myself,  when  I  should 
4' 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

have  pocketed  the  fiver,  to  which  I  felt  en- 
titled." The  generosity  was  genuine;  the 
lament  whispered  in  mock  gravity. 

Not  liking  to  perform  the  slow  task  of 
transferring  his  intended  illustrations  of  East- 
ern life,  which  were  to  be  woven  with  the 
text,  on  to  the  wood-blocks  for  the  cuts,  he 
confided  the  task  to  me.  I  used  to  go  early 
in  the  morning,  and  to  work  away  under  his 
directions  in  his  Jermyn  Street  lodgings.  I 
had  nearly  finished  the  whole  set,  when  a 
sudden  happy  thought  struck  the  author :  he 
would  have  his  own  portrait  drawn  to  be 
placed  upon  the  book  cover.  He  pulled  out 
from  a  drawer  a  bright  new  costume  he  had 
purchased  at  Cairo,  and  soon  appeared  in  full 
Oriental  garb.  With  the  red  fez  cap  and 
blue  tassel  on  his  head,  a  crimson  silk  caftan 
round  his  body,  and  sleeves  pendent,  baggy 
breeks  and  red  papouche  slippers,  he  en- 
sconced himself  on  a  low  divan,  grasping  a 
42 


Eccles's  Hotel,  GlengarifF. 
See  "Irish  Sketch  Book,"  Chapter  IX. 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

long  cherry  stick,  and,  crossing  his  legs,  sat 
immovable  till  I  had  finished  my  outline. 

Father  Prout  happening  to  call,  Thack- 
eray, still  thus  attired,  pulled  out  a  portion 
of  his  MS.,  and  read  out  to  us  "  The  White 
Squall."  The  last  lines,  expressed  with  tear- 
ful accents,  elicited  a  subdued  but  sincere, 
"  That  '11  do,"  from  Mahony. 

Soon  divesting  himself  of  his  grand  Cairo 
costume,  Thackeray  asked  us  to  go  with  him 
and  have  a  look  at  his  new  chambers,  which 
he  had  just  taken  at  No.  88  St.  James's 
Street.  We  did  so,  and  we  found  these 
more  spacious,  airy,  and  brighter  than  those 
he  was  leaving.  Mr.  Rideing,  in  his  pleas- 
ant, gossipy  pages  called  "  Thackeray's  Lon- 
don," has  adopted  the  statement,  first  made 
in  "  Thackerayana,"  that  the  house  has  been 
pulled  down  since.  This  is  premature ;  the 
house,  on  the  contrary,  stands  secure  enough. 
The  post-office  is  on  the  ground  floor;  men 
45 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

of  letters  are  all  over  the  place,  not  to  men- 
tion the  immediate  vicinity  haunted  by 
ghosts  of  these  ;  next  door  used  to  be  the 
St.  James's  Coffee  House,  where  Swift  wrote 
his  "  Stella  "  correspondence ;  Gibbon  died  a 
few  doors  off;  Theodore  Hook  used  to  issue 
from  his  house  in  Cleveland  Row  to  go  into 
Clubland ;  and  so  the  air  seems  a  genial  one 
for  wits. 

Very  quiet  and  restful  were  these  cham- 
bers. Besides  original  authorship,  Thack- 
eray undertook  the  sub-editorial  business  of 
the  "Examiner,"  consisting  mainly  in  scis- 
soring clippings  from  the  daily  papers,  which 
then  strewed  the  floor.  Here  Thackeray 
wrote  his  amusing  note  to  Macvey  Napier, 
editor  of  the  "  Edinburgh  Review,"  protest- 
ing against  his  too  liberal  use  of  the  shears 
when  cutting  out  well-pondered  jokes  of 
Titmarshian  humor. 

Thackeray  next  removed  to  No.  13  Young 
46 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

Street,  Kensington  (rechristened  now  No. 
16).  His  family  came  over  from  Paris  to 
keep  house  for  him.  His  Boston  friend,  Mr. 
James  T.  Fields,  has  given  an  amusing  ac- 
count of  his  first  visit  to  it,  when  Thackeray 
playfully  told  him  to  go  down  on  his  knees, 
as  "Vanity  Fair"  was  written  there.  My 
first  glimpse  of  the  structure  was  before  this 
time,  on  his  taking  possession,  and  when  that 
famous  book  was  still  in  embryo.  On  turn- 
ing to  the  left,  coming  from  a  walk  along 
the  Park,  out  of  High  Street,  into  Young 
Street,  and  suddenly  catching  sight  of  the 
two  bulging  half-towers  which  flank  the  cen- 
tral doorway,  he  thought  the  house  had  the 
air  of  a  feudal  castle,  and  exclaimed,  "I  '11 
have  a  flagstaff  put  over  the  coping  of  the 
wall,  and  I  '11  hoist  a  standard  up  when  I  'm 
at  home ! " 

It  is  needless  to  describe  in  detail  the  in- 
terior arrangements  of  this  household.     The 
49 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

study  has  been  made  the  subject  of  pictorial 
treatment  by  Ward,  R.  A.  Some  little  time 
back  the  kindly  tenants  of  the  house,  Mr. 
O'Neil,  the  well-known  painter,  and  his  wife, 
allowed  me  to  renew  my  old  impressions  of 
the  place.  The  first  floor  bedroom,  where 
Thackeray  lay  dictating  "  Esmond  "  all  day, 
while  whiffing  his  cigar,  had  been  enlarged 
with  the  window  for  a  studio;  otherwise  it 
was  scarcely  altered. 

I  might  recall  the  strange  imbroglio  caused 
by  an  irate  gentleman  who,  fancying  a  rela- 
tive had  been  maligned  in  some  satirical  de- 
scription, sent  to  Thackeray  to  come  over 
and  settle  the  business ;  else  he  threatened  to 
castigate  him  publicly.  In  pursuit  of  re- 
venge he  wrote  that  he  had  taken  a  room 
opposite,  and  that  he  would  await  Thacke- 
ray's arrival  on  a  certain  day  and  hour.  The 
appointment  to  meet  him  was  made.  On 
that  day  Thackeray  thought  fit  to  take  the 
5° 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

precautionary  measure  of  inviting  a  brawny- 
armed  artist,  Alexander  Christie,  Head  Master 
of  the  Edinburgh  School  of  Design,  an  ever- 
welcome  boon  companion,  as  well  as  myself, 
to  assist  at  the  meeting  so  far  as  to  be  on 
the  watch  for  fisticuffs,  should  matters  come  to 
that  pass.  Presently  Thackeray  rose  up  from 
the  dinner-table,  armed  himself  with  a  small 
rattan  stick,  and  walked  across  the  street. 
Christie  rapidly  divested  himself  of  his  coat, 
tucked  up  his  sleeves, —  revealing,  I  was  glad 
to  note,  a  good  biceps, — and  looking  anxi- 
ously out  of  the  front  bay-window,  squared 
his  elbows  and  clenched  his  fists  in  true 
pugilistic  trim,  ready  for  the  signal  to  rush 
across.  I  did  the  same.  After  awhile,  to 
our  relief,  we  noticed  our  host  emerging 
from  the  doorway  unscathed,  cool,  and  erect. 
What  had  happened  ?  we  inquired.  He  re- 
plied that  he  at  first  found  the  gentleman  in 
a  state  of  suppressed  fury,  thinking  some 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

relative  of  his  had  been  slandered,  and  he 
wanted  reparation.  Thackeray  seems  to 
have  proved  easily  the  groundlessness  of  the 
charge  to  his  opponent's  satisfaction.  So  the 
matter  ended,  without  indiscreet  divulging  of 
any  names.  In  Anthony  Trollope's  "  Life  " 
of  our  friend,  he  fastens  the  incident  upon 
the  quaint  Hibernian  mixing  up  of  Cather- 
ine Hayes,  the  famous  singer,  with  the  char- 
acter of  the  murderess  of  the  same  name 
whom  Thackeray  wrote  about.  But  that 
story,  as  told  by  the  supposititious  Ikey  Sol- 
omons, Esq.,  Jr.,  appeared  more  than  half  a 
dozen  years  before  this  time;  the  solution 
must  be  traced  to  the  license  often  taken  by 
the  romance  writer,  rather  than  to  possible 
history. 

Besides    works     of    comparatively    slow 

growth  he  produced  the  weekly  lucubrations 

for  "  Punch's  "  pages,  which  charm  as  a  rule 

by  their  natural  ease,  suggestive  of  sponta- 

52 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

neous  rapid  conception.  That  this  was  not 
always  the  case  was  once  made  clear,  when 
at  the  appointed  time  for  collecting  manu- 
script, the  printer's  boy  was  announced  and 
was  told  to  wait  in  the  hall.  Thackeray, 
pacing  the  room  in  which  the  brain-cudgel- 
ing was  taking  place,  exclaimed:  "Well, 
I  must  be  funny  in  five  minutes."  With 
pluck  he  sat  down  at  his  desk  and  shortly 
after  the  printer's  devil  was  off  with  the 
needed  copy. 

"  The  Snobs  of  England,  by  One  of  Them- 
selves," papers  which  appeared  in  the  same 
favorite  periodical,  were  not  thrown  off  with 
any  such  perfunctory  despatch,  and  week 
after  week  they  were  clutched  at  with  avid- 
ity from  February,  1846,  to  the  same  month 
in  1847.  When  they  were  completed  and 
were  on  the  point  of  issue  as  a  separate  vol- 
ume, Thackeray,  ever  on  the  alert  for  an  ap- 
propriate dedicatory  preface,  thought  of  his 
53 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

old  friend,  W.  G.  Lettsom,  whom  he  had 
known  as  Embassy  Attache  at  Weimar,  Mu- 
nich, and  other  places.  It  was,  however, 
owing  to  earlier  association  as  undergraduate 
at  Cambridge  that  he  was  deemed  fit  recip- 
ient for  a  dedicatory  notice,  as  Lettsom,  with 
Thackeray,  was  one  of  the  writers  in  the 
short-lived  university  paper  called  "The 
Snob."  We  can  imagine  the  sparkling  sen- 
tences which  would  have  surged  up  as  a 
record  of  that  old  time.  But  strange  to  say 
the  honor  was  declined,  and  this  spurning  of 
immortality  became  a  personal  loss  to  most 
people.  There  is  no  dedication  to  the  "  Book 
of  Snobs  "  in  consequence. 

I  was  in  Paris  when  the  first  numbers  of 
"Vanity  Fair"  came  out,  and  like  the 
equally  immortal  "  Pickwick  Papers,"  the 
preliminary  chapters  were  not  accepted  with 
the  enthusiasm  accorded  to  the  future  devel- 
opments. Toward  the  closing  months,  on 
54 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

my  return  to  England,  and  in  rambles  in  the 
evening  from  Young  Street,  accompanied  by 
Thackeray,  and  others,  the  talk  was  gener- 
ally not  alone  about  the  prodigious  success 
already  achieved,  but  as  to  the  probable  de- 
nouement of  the  story.  It  was  Thackeray's 
humor  to  baffle  enterprising  inquisitiveness 
by  evolving  different  lines  and  modes  of 
winding  up  the  career  of  Becky,  Dobbin, 
and  the  others,  having  doubtless  already  well 
settled  mentally  how  they  were  finally  to  be 
allotted  their  dues.  One  exceptional  instance 
I  remember  in  which  a  suggestion  was  ac- 
cepted as  valuable.  It  occurred  in  June, 
1848,  one  day  when  Thackeray  came  at 
lunch-time  to  my  father's  Hampstead  house. 
Torrens  McCullagh,  happening  to  be  one  of 
the  party,  said  across  the  table  to  Thackeray, 
"  Well,  I  see  you  are  going  to  shut  up  your 
puppets  in  their  box ! "  His  immediate  re- 
ply was,  "Yes;  and,  with  your  permission, 
55 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

I  '11  work  up  that  simile."  How  skilfully 
that  chance  phrase  was  worked  up  in  the 
prefatorial  "Before  the  Curtain,"  all  his 
readers  well  know. 

About  this  time  —  it  may  be  two  or  three 
months  previous — De  Noe,  the  illustrator  of 
French  manners  and  customs,  came  over  to 
England,  and  was  hospitably  entertained  at 
Young  Street.  Though  I  did  n't  meet  him 
here  at  this  time,  he  was  an  old  chum  at  the 
Delaroche  atelier.  Like  Thackeray,  though 
assiduous  for  a  while  at  the  class  for  drawing, 
he  only  assimilated  enough  skill  for  carrying 
out  his  fertile  grotesque  delineations  chiefly 
in  the  pages  of  "  Punch's "  precursor,  the 
French  "  Charivari."  His  parody  of  the  an- 
nual salons  was  always  delightfully  comic, 
and  the  recipients  of  his  good-humored  chaff 
were  the  first  to  join  in  the  laugh. 

Quite  the  opposite  in  character  was  M. 
Louis  Marvy,  who  was  welcomed  to  Thack- 
56 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

eray's  home  at  Kensington  during  his  short 
sojourn,  as  related  in  the  "  Landscape  Pain- 
ters of  England,"  the  materials  for  which  he 
got  together  here.  These  were  a  score  of 
mezzotint  etchings  executed  in  the  manner 
known  in  France  as  vernis  mou,  in  which  he 
was  an  adept.  Thackeray  had  obtained  the 
permission  of  noble  owners  of  galleries  to 
single  out  specimens  of  English  masters 
from  their  collections,  and  when  done  of- 
fered the  prints  to  a  publisher.  The  latter 
only  consented  conditionally  on  Thackeray 
himself  furnishing  the  text  for  them.  A  se- 
vere illness  at  this  critical  time  laid  Thack- 
eray prostrate,  and  the  "  Pendennis  "  monthly 
issues  were  stopped  for  four  months  by  a 
bilious  fever.  When  he  rallied,  however, 
with  wonderful  powers  of  recuperation,  we 
were  delighted  to  note  that  his  former  vigor- 
ous appetite  had  returned.  He  even  went 
so  far  as  to  declare  that  the  dish  of  roast-pig 
57 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

with  its  crackle  coating,  of  which  he  with 
relish  partook  at  my  father's  table,  had  given 
the  finishing  touch  to  his  convalescence. 

His  first  benevolent  thought  on  recovery 
was  to  fulfil  his  contract  with  the  printer,  so 
as  to  endeavor  to  help  the  replenishing  of 
Marvy's  coffers.  With  this  object  he  wrote 
to  me,  on  November  7,  1849,  tne  following 
letter : 

KENSINGTON,  Wednesday. 
MY  DEAR  EYRE 

Come  to  me  as  soon  as  pawsable,  and  let  us  work  off 
that  set  of  texts  for  Bogue.  I  think  I  could  dictate 
some  and  you  could  supply  more,  and  we  could  be  soon 
done  with  the  dem  bugbear. 

Ever  yours     W.    M.   T. 

Come  in  the  earliest  morning  you  can  to  breakfast ; 
bring  the  plates  with  you  and  let  us  go  to  work. 

I  went  next  morning  as  requested.    Thack- 
eray began  with  the  first  plate,  that  of  Tur- 
ner (also  the  most  important  one),  preparing 
58 


«/AlM     liuu.     f^A 


-fu- 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

paragraphs  full  of  discriminating  phraseol- 
ogy, with  a  dash  of  banter  at  the  later  phases 
of  the  painter's  career,  which  seems  to  me 
even  now  the  perfection  of  a  brief  summing 
up  of  noble  qualities,  and  equal  to  the  sub- 
ject in  hand.  As  the  others  followed,  it  af- 
forded me  an  opportunity  of  assisting  at  the 
welding  operation,  by  which  fragmentary 
sentences  of  my  own  became  fluent  prose, 
and  mere  matter  of  fact  was  enlivened  as  if 
by  a  magic  pen. 


When  I  recently  finished  my  drawing  of 
the  Kensington  house,  I  strolled  down  the 
well-known  street  in  search  of  rest  in  the 
greenery  of  Kensington  Gardens  —  a  grateful 
relief  to  the  eyes  after  dwelling  upon  the 
sullen  colors  of  old  brick-work.  Vast  piles 
have  arisen  in  the  neighborhood,  forming  a 
medley  of  stores,  houses,  and  hotels  which 
61 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

cater  to  the  wants  of  the  ever-increasing  pop- 
ulation of  the  once  courtly  suburb. 

Following  this  period,  No.  36  Onslow 
Square,  for  ten  years  or  more,  was  the  next 
of  the  author's  homes;  and  there,  on  the 
second  floor,  was  the  study  in  which  so 
many  well-known  tales,  essays,  romances, 
lectures,  etc.,  were  written.  They  are  all  enu- 
merated in  Mr.  Shepherd's  useful  Bibliog- 
raphy of  the  author.  The  house,  with  its 
portico,  its  balcony,  iron  framed,  even  the 
smaller  top  windows  near  the  coping,  recalls 
structurally  those  found  in  older  London 
squares,  which  doubtless  served  as  models 
for  these  later  imitations.  A  recently  pub- 
lished volume,  Dr.  Shirley's  pleasant  "Table 
Talk,"  tells  us  of  an  interview  in  this  "den" 
with  the  writer,  at  that  time  looking  worn 
and  ill.  The  den,  so  called,  was  a  most 
cheerful  one;  its  windows  commanded  a  view 
of  the  old  avenue  of  elm-trees.  The  walls 
6z 


House  at  No.  36  Onslow  Square,  Brompton. 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

were  decked  with  woodland  water-color 
scenes  by  his  favorite,  Mr.  Bennett,  and  quite 
in  a  central  place  was  the  beautiful  mezzo- 
tint print  of  Sir  Joshua's  "  Little  Girl  in  the 
Snow,"  a  playful  terrier  and  robin  redbreast 
as  her  companions.  As  a  change  he  would 
at  times  prefer  the  ground-floor  room,  and 
dictate  while  lounging  on  an  ottoman — too 
often  battling  with  pain  in  later  days.  The  lit- 
tle bronze  statuette  of  George  IV.  on  the  man- 
telpiece had  the  look  of  an  ironical  genius 
loci,  when  the  work  of  hammering  out  the 
lectures  of  the  Four  Georges  was  on  the  anvil. 
Connected  with  these  a  little  digression 
may  be  here  permissible.  He  gave  these 
lectures  at  Cupar,  Fife,  among  other  locali- 
ties. Happening  to  stroll  along  one  of  the 
principal  thoroughfares  of  that  town — Cross 
Gate — he  was  tickled  at  seeing  an  emblem- 
atic picture  over  the  doorway  of  the  "  Battle 
of  Waterloo"  Inn. 

65 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

"What,"  he  exclaims,  in  his  "Small  Beer 
Chronicle,"  in  the  "  Cornhill  Magazine  "  of 
July,  1861,  "what  do  you  think  the  sign  is? 
The  'Battle  of  Waterloo'  is  one  broad 
Scotchman  laying  about  him  with  a  broad- 
sword." Happening  to  be  in  Cupar  I 
sketched  it,  as  here  shown.  Local  tradition 
has  it  that  a  veteran  Highlander,  of  the  name 
of  Kennedy,  Sergeant  in  the  Seventy-ninth 
Regiment,  who  survived  the  slaughter  of  that 
day,  sat  for  the  portrait  here  reproduced.  He 
was  for  many  years  the  Governor  of  Cupar 
jail.  I  was  mortified,  on  seeing  the  sign  at  a 
later  date,  to  find  that  panel  painting  altered, 
as  shown  in  another  outline. 

In  the  year  1861  the  firm  of  Jackson  & 
Graham  built  for  Thackeray  the  beautiful 
brick  house  at  No.  2  Palace  Green,  Ken- 
sington, which  alone  of  all  his  homes  has 
the  privileged  Society  of  Arts  oval  com- 
memorative tablet  inserted  in  its  wall,  an- 
66 


The  original  sign  over  Waterloo  Tavern. 


Waterloo  Tavern,  as  described  by  Thackeray  in  the  "  Cornhill 
Magazine"  of  July,  1861. 


Waterloo  Tavern  as  it  is  To-day. 
Drawn  from  photograph. 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

nouncing  that  he  here  lived  and  died.  An 
old  house  stood  on  its  ground  when  he  pur- 
chased the  site;  but  after  mature  considera- 
tion he  wisely  gave  up  the  notion  of  patching 
that  up  with  additions,  and  instead  razed  the 
old  walls  and  built  up  the  new.  I  recollect 
with  what  mingled  feelings  I  trod  upon  its 
mortar-  and  brick-bestrewed  floors  for  the 
first  time;  it  seemed  so  much  too  vast  for 
comfort;  and  how  this  impression  was  re- 
versed, when  on  its  completion  he  invited 
friends  to  a  housewarming.  These  warm 
admirers  had  to  be  divided  into  two  sec- 
tions, as  the  rooms,  though  as  yet  barely  fur- 
nished, couldn't  hold  all  the  invited  guests 
in  one  lot.  This  housewarming  took  place 
on  February  24  and  25,  1862,  when  our 
host's  play  of  the  "Wolves  and  the  Lamb" 
was  admirably  acted  by  amateurs,  those  I 
recollect  being  the  daughters  of  Sir  Henry 
Cole,  Mrs.  Caulfield,  Follett-Synge,  Quinten 
7' 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

Twiss,  and  Thackeray  himself;  he,  in  dumb 
show,  dressed  as  a  pastor  blessing  the  as- 
sembled actors  at  the  close  of  the  perform- 
ance, which  was  much  applauded.  My 
modest  contribution  was  a  painting  of  Mrs. 
Milliken  as  she  leans  upon  her  harp,  an 
adaptation  from  an  outline  illustration  in 
"Lovel  the  Widower,"  the  novel  founded 
upon  this  two-act  play  afterward. 

In  this  house  Thackeray  was  actually 
placed  astride  the  two  parishes  of  Westmin- 
ster and  Kensington;  the  boundary  line  of 
both  running  discreetly  into  the  lawn  at  the 
back,  where  a  stone  denoting  the  division 
has  been  placed. 

Thackeray  was  always  a  great  lover  of 
bric-a-brac  shops,  the  glitter  of  old  silver  en- 
ticing him  to  look  in  at  the  windows;  and 
ample  scope  was  given  in  this  house  for 
gathering  together  valuables  to  fill  his  rooms. 

Not  satisfied  always  with  the  places  as- 
72 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

signed  to  his  antiquated  pottery,  it  was  one 
of  his  fitful  hobbies  to  search  for  fresh  nooks 
to  store  them  in  —  a  glittering  vase  orna- 
mented with  cauliflowers  being  given  special 
attention.  Two  Sevres  sauce-boats  also  were 
favorites,  and  were  purchased  at  the  sale  of  his 
effects,  on  April  i,  1864,  for  the  South  Kensing- 
ton Museum.  A  large  gilt  Italian  mirror  was 
purchased  at  the  same  time  for  the  museum. 
As  I  look  at  this  handsome  dwelling  I  not 
only  think  of  the  author's  noble  presence,  so 
soon  snatched  away  after  a  too  brief  realiza- 
tion of  its  comforts.  It  also  keeps  alive  the 
fond  memory  of  a  sister,  Amy,  whom  he  so 
nobly  befriended,  who  was  married  from  this 
home  to  Thackeray's  kinsman,  Colonel  Ed- 
ward Thackeray,  V.  C.  She  succumbed  to 
the  trying  Indian  climate. 

Besides  his  own  immediate  homes,  Thack- 
eray, as  all  know  who  follow  his  descriptive 

75 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

peregrinations,  sought  relaxation  in  what 
might  be  called  his  second  homes,  the  clubs 
— of  which  the  Garrick  and  the  Reform 
Club  and  the  Athenseum  were  the  three  prin- 
cipal favorites.  The  immortal  Foker  has 
been  singled  out  as  a  well-known  figure  at 
the  first-named  one,  and  others  doubtless 
recognized  their  photographic  likenesses  in 
"Club  Snobs";  but  the  banter  was  always 
playful,  and  added  to  the  popularity  of  the 
realistic  limner  whenever  he  merely  gossiped 
or  dined  or  joined  the  evening  smoking- 
groups. 

An  instance  of  his  kindness  of  thought, 
among  many,  occurs  to  my  mind.  Professor 
Fawcett,  not  yet  M.  P.,  but  evidently  con- 
templating a  proximate  election  for  some 
lucky  borough,  took  the  initiative  step  for  a 
Liberal  candidate,  and  joined  the  Reform 
Club.  He  was  setting  solitary  at  lunch-time, 
and,  in  his  blindness,  only  hearing  an  indis- 
76 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

tinct  hum  of  voices  around  him.  Thackeray, 
seeing  this,  beckoned  to  Bernal  Osborne, 
asking  him  to  come  and  cheer  him  up.  "  I 
don't  know  him,"  was  the  reply;  but  soon 
the  three  notable  and  quaintly  contrasted 
personalities  were  to  be  seen  forming  an  in- 
teresting group.  On  another  occasion  Thack- 
eray had  invited  a  young  friend  to  dine  with 
him  at  the  Reform,  a  day  or  two  before 
departing  for  India.  His  guest  appeared 
emerging  out  of  a  cab,  without  a  hat,  which 
he  considered  an  encumbrance,  and  stated  he 
had  gone  about  London  all  day  without  head- 
gear. This  amused  our  host,  who  grinned 
and  muttered  at  the  end  of  our  repast,  "  Hat- 
less,"  as  if  this  would  work  up  as  a  future 
character  in  a  novel. 

I   recall  several  curious  slips  of  the  pen 

which  repeated  editions  of  Thackeray's  works 

have  failed  to  correct.    These  only  prove  that 

he,  too,  was  mortal.     An  instance   may  be 

77 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

cited  from  the  "Irish  Sketch-Book."  In  the 
middle  of  Stephen's  Green  stands  the  eques- 
trian statue  thus  described  in  Thackeray's 
pages :  "  In  the  whole  of  Stephen's  Green  I 
think  there  were  not  more  than  two  nur- 
sery-maids to  keep  company  with  the  statue 
of  George  L,  who  rides  on  horseback  in  the 
middle  of  the  garden,  the  horse  having  its 
foot  up  to  trot,  as  if  he  wanted  to  go  out 
of  town  too."  Of  course  Thackeray's  remon- 
strance is  here  directed  at  the  exclusive  shut- 
ting up  of  the  gardens.  But  everybody  can 
now  enter,  and  this  enables  you  to  read  the 
inscription  on  the  statue,  Giorgio  Secundo. 
Why  not  alter  the  number  in  Thackeray's 
book  now  that  we  can  do  so? 

On  Tuesday,  December  21,  1863,  Thack- 
eray attended  as  a  mourner  at  the  last  rites 
of  a  relative,  Lady  Rodd.  He  came  after- 
ward and  sat  down,  possibly  to  write  words 

78 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

of  condolence,  at  a  favorite  seat  at  the  writ- 
ing-table of  the  Lower  Room  of  the  Reform 
Club.  His  extreme  pallor  struck  me  as  un- 
usual with  him,  as  in  spite  of  pain  his  face 
seldom  appeared  bloodless.  Thus  seen,  with 
his  silvery  locks,  against  the  somber  array  of 
Parliamentary  volumes  behind  him  on  the 
shelves,  his  noble,  massive  countenance  took 
on  the  air  of  a  classical  antique  bust.  For 
nearly  twenty-three  years  (he  having  been 
elected  a  member  in  March,  1840)  he  had 
often  sat  down  here  grasping  the  pen  which 
was  so  soon  to  drop  from  his  hands.  Three 
days  after,  on  the  day  before  Christmas,  came 
the  announcement  of  his  death,  terrible  in  its 
suddenness  to  those,  like  myself,  who  had 
only  his  countless  benefactions  to  dwell  upon. 
A  post  of  honor  was  afterward  assigned,  in 
what  is  called  the  "Stranger's  Room  "  of  the 
Reform  Club,  to  an  admirable  likeness  of  him 
done  by  his  friend  Samuel  Laurence,  from 
81 


Thackeray's  Haunts  and  Homes 

studies  made  when  he  was  making  his  famous 
crayon  life-size  drawings.  This  portrait  was 
appropriately  placed  between  busts  of  two  of 
his  distinguished  Parliamentary  friends,  Sir 
William  Molesworth  and  Charles  Buller. 
Immediately  beneath  was  long  to  be  seen 
the  accessory,  so  usual  in  old  days,  of  a 
sarcophagus-cellaret  —  in  its  empty  condition 
suggestive  of  bygone  festivity  and  hospital- 
ities of  his  own,  of  which  this  room  was 
often  the  actual  scene. 


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